#101

The Peregrine is one of Werner Herzog’s favorite books. I forget what he says about it exactly but it’s something about becoming the point of view from which you tell a story. That one’s definitely on my list.

1 Like
#102

Lawrence English’s CD, “The Peregrine” based on the book is also a really good one (apologies if this has been mentioned and I missed it):

3 Likes
#103

Started this:

I’ve been seeing “H is for Hawk” around a lot; the attention paid it here has me thinking I’m going to pick it up. I’ve always enjoyed our raptors but my son and I have really been getting in to hawks lately, and I finally bought a good pair of binoculars, and that’s been a revelation. Aside from the fairly ubiquitous red tailed hawks and various morphs, we’ve also recently followed a pair of northern harriers, another solo harrier, and a ferruginous hawk. Stunning.

I may take him to a falconry class introduction in San Diego later this winter.

If all goes well, we will participate in the bald eagle count in the San Bernardino National Forest next weekend too.

Peregrines are fairly common sights. In the spring, there’s one that comes and hangs out for a month or so at work. It hangs out in the “A” of the giant “Yahoo” sign atop the building.

I should check “The Peregrine” too.

Since botany is close to my heart, I also picked up Hope Jahren’s “Lab Girl.” I heard her on the radio a few months ago and liked what I heard there.

I :heart: California native flora.

3 Likes
#104

You’ll have to let us know how “Do Not Say We Have Nothing” is. Since the Booker got a bit more adventurous with its nominees, I’ve been reading most of the finalists. Read The Sellout last year before the nominations, and loved it–maybe the best book I read all year. Read His Bloody Project, and enjoyed it but didn’t find it to be as special. Wondering how the one you’re reading is!

#105

Damn, haven’t been excited for a book in a long time! Thanks for the heads up!

My Seveneves reading is slow-going as I only have time for it while driving… (so yeah, not really reading but listening to the audiobook). My last book of his was REAMDE, which was fun but not satisfying in the classic Neal Stephenson sense.

#106

I went through The Three-Body Problem a couple weeks ago. Gorgeous, bleak, and genuinely surprising. I will admit, ignorance of physics and higher math helped with the surprise (I assumed the title had something to do with a third gender? At least bodies of sentient beings.)

Soon after my mistake became clear, I started wondering what a grid sequencer based on three-body-math would look like. Added to the stack of “maybe someday” projects.

2 Likes
#107

Yes! I did a few music experiments with chaotic attractors many years ago … Perhaps a bit like the three body problem.

I’m about ten pages from finishing Death’s End (the final book). Extraordinary fiction, can’t recommend them enough.

1 Like
#108

COMPUTER FORMATION!

I wrote, and then had to make 20 characters, and then make a sentence, because Discourse hates fun.

4 Likes
#109

Definitely some sound making potential:

I wonder if the Jitter physics engine could re-create these?

#110

Just finished David Stubbs’ Fear Of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don’t Get Stockhausen today. Really interesting read, if a bit less in depth than it could be. Obviously there are a whole range of reasons for why modern art institutions are huge tourist attractions where modern music doesn’t draw anywhere near the same numbers/interest, but he makes some interesting points, despite a few annoyingly reductive references to ‘world music’.

Easy to knock over relatively quickly if you’re in the mood.

http://www.zero-books.net/books/fear-of-music

#111

I’m nearly done with the latest Jonathan Lethem novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy.

#112

I just came very close to a very poorly timed excursion down a rabbit hole to find Python three body problem code examples…

#113

Hello to everyone,

This is my first post. As I found many interesting ideas in this thread for my next readings, I decided to chime in and give a list of the books I really liked in 2016.

These books have been written several decades ago, but they seemed very contemporary to me.
As I read them all in French (my native language), unfortunately I cannot recommend any English editions.

I’d be curious to hear what other people think about these books!

Wassily Kandinsky - Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Mark Rothko - The Artist’s Reality
Andrei Tarkovski - Sculpting in Time

5 Likes
#114

“Sculpting in Time” has been sitting on my shelf for some time. I’d love to hear some reviews too!

#115

Love Dune. On the third book of the series currently.

4 Likes
#116

the titles of these books sound really interesting, i’m also curious what other people think about these

#117

not reading exactly…but enjoying a lot this book about old (library & obscure) record covers/graphic design from vinyl collector jonny trunk:

ML_2016_cover.jpg787×787 112 KB

#118

just finished this one - beautiful writing and took me a bit to get into but very happy I stuck with it

2 Likes
#119

obviously, not currently reading all at once :slight_smile: but maybe a goal for 2017 to finish these books

IMG_0280.jpg2081×2412 1.44 MB

1 Like
#120

started Thinking Fast and Slow and The Society of Mind at the same time - at times they sort of seem to click together, I simply dedicate them different parts of the day.

2 Likes